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The next next generation

There are rumours, gossip and blossoming relationships. But we're not talking about this week's soapies - we're looking at the next generation of consoles.

This year's E3 expo seemed to be the obvious place to unveil the new platforms, but it wasn't to be. There were, however, a few tidbits handed out.

Sony's chief techie, Masa Chatani, confirmed that games for Playstation 3 would start to be developed at the end of the year, when workstations based on IBM's Cell processor will be distributed.

The Cell is being described as a "supercomputer on a chip", capable of carrying out a trillion floating-point calculations or more a second. This makes it roughly 100 times faster than a 2.5GHz Pentium 4.

This suggests the heart of the PS3 will be the Cell processor, as has been rumoured. Chatani said it would use a broadband distribution system to allow the user to buy any entertainment at any time.

It looks like 2006 will be the year PS3 is released.

Microsoft gave away little about its next console. But E3 attendees were privy to a demo of its XNA games development platform, which will be used for the existing Xbox as well as its successor. This showed in detail a collision of two virtual Saleen S7 racing cars at about 300kmh.

It seems IBM is doing a bit of two timing, as it is supposedly also supplying the processor for the next Xbox. Microsoft has cosied up to ATI this time around for the graphics core, shunning nVidia, and one of the results will be HDTV-compatible visuals - just in time for the 17 users in Australia who will have bought a HDTV.

Microsoft is banking on the fact that it will beat PS3 to the shelves, so keep your trigger fingers ready for late 2005.

Information on Nintendo was pretty thin but we discovered the codename of its upcoming console: Revolution.

It's wise not to get too eager for the new consoles as they're still at least 18 months away, but it's hard not to be excited by their potential.